Brooklyn Man Sentenced to 108 ½ Years to Life in Prison for
Predatory Sexual Assault of 12-Year-Old Girl and Crimes against Other Children

Acting Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez today announced that a 35-year-old Brooklyn man has been sentenced to 108 ½ years to life in prison following his conviction earlier this month on charges of predatory sexual assault, sexual abuse and other counts for raping a 12-year-old girl on several occasions, including in Prospect Park where he videotaped the act.

The defendant was also convicted in connection with exploiting a 15-year-old boy and a 10-year-old girl, in separate incidents, both of whom he met on Facebook by pretending to be a young girl.

Acting District Attorney Gonzalez said, “This defendant is a sexual predator who targeted young children. He is clearly a danger to society and has now been held accountable for his depraved criminal acts.”

The Acting District Attorney said that the defendant, Natalio Canete-Perez, 35, of Kensington, Brooklyn, was sentenced today to 108 ½ years to life in prison by Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Vincent Del Giudice. The defendant was convicted of three counts of predatory sexual assault, two counts of first-degree sexual abuse, two counts of use of a child in a sexual performance, and disseminating indecent materials to minors following a jury trial earlier this month.

The Acting District Attorney said that, according to trial testimony, on June 11, 2014, at approximately 10 a.m., in Prospect Park, the defendant encouraged a 15-year-old boy to have sex with a 12-year-old girl while the defendant watched. The defendant himself then had sex with the 12-year-old girl and videotaped the encounter.

The defendant met the 15-year-old boy on Facebook by posing as a 12-year-old girl, and then made arrangements to meet him at the park. The defendant – who admitted having sex with the girl on two additional occasions following the park incident – knew the girl because his family and her family rented rooms in the same house.

Furthermore, according to trial testimony, the defendant “friended” a 10-year-old girl on Facebook in May 2014 by posing as an adolescent girl and encouraged her to send lewd photos of herself to him. After she sent pictures, he demanded that she send more and threatened to post the photos she had already sent if she did not. She told a relative, who alerted the police.

The Acting District Attorney said that, according to trial testimony, the defendant was arrested in September 2014 by police investigating the incident involving the 10-year-old. That investigation led to the discovery of the incident involving the 12-year-old and the 15-year-old.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney Frank DeGaetano, First Deputy Chief of the District Attorney’s Special Victims Bureau, and Assistant District Attorney Tamara Marshall, also of the Special Victims Bureau, under the supervision of Assistant District Attorney Miss Gregory, Chief.